Your mentor for the next 40 minutes is the incredible Check Warner, Co-Founder of non-profit organisation Diversity VC and Ada Ventures, a venture capital firm, committed to investing in overlooked founders and markets. It took around 18 months, 67 flights and 300 pitches to raise their first fund and Check shares her learnings through this process in today’s episode. She also shares brilliant insights into what it takes to succeed in the VC sector, including: How her graduate job in advertising gave her experience across a variety of industries and some core skills that helped her as she transitioned into VC Why she is passionate about supporting underrepresented founders and her tips for breaking into VC And how having the right mentor can help you overcome imposter syndrome, recover from knockbacks and keep you focused on your goals D&I and social mobility are topics very close to our hearts, so it was an absolute pleasure to speak to Check about her career and the incredible work she is doing in the VC and tech world to drive much needed change. She’s made us feel much more optimistic about the future of the industry, so whether you’re a Founder fundraising or you’re desperate to break into VC, this episode is packed full of tangible advice that we're sure will be of great benefit. We’d love to hear your thoughts on this episode, so please do get in touch at james@jbmc.co.uk If you want to find out more about Check, take a look at her LinkedIn profile – https://www.linkedin.com/in/francescawarner/ If you want to find out more about Ada Ventures, have a look at their website – https://www.adaventures.com/ If you want to find out more about Ada Ventures, have a look at their website – https://www.diversity.vc/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices